475 - Short title; purpose of article.
§ 475. Short title; purpose of article. This article shall be known and may be cited as the bingo licensing law. The legislature hereby declares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide charitable, educational, scientific, health, religious, civic and patriotic causes and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are indefinite, is in the public interest. It hereby finds that, as conducted prior to the enactment of this article, bingo was the subject of exploitation by professional gamblers, promoters, and commercial interests. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the legislature that all phases of the supervision, licensing and regulation of bingo and of the conduct of bingo games, should be closely controlled and that the laws and regulations pertaining thereto should be strictly construed and rigidly enforced; that the conduct of the game and all attendant activities should be so regulated and adequate controls so instituted as to discourage commercialization in all its forms, including the rental of commercial premises for bingo games, and to ensure a maximum availability of the net proceeds of bingo exclusively for application to the worthy causes and undertakings specified herein; that the only justification for this article is to foster and support such worthy causes and undertakings, and that the mandate of section nine of article one of the state constitution, as amended, should be carried out by rigid regulation to prevent commercialized gambling, prevent participation by criminal and other undesirable elements and prevent the diversion of funds from the purposes herein authorized.